Love Me for Me
by ShadowObsession
Summary: Hermione/Harry.Gellert/Albus. Based on JJ Heller's song 'Who will love me for me'. Harry's abused,Hermione's abandoned,Gellert's alone.


_He crys in the corner where no-body sees,_

The boy curled further into a ball and sobbed quietly as so not to wake anyone,tears stream from his eyes,a soft sob escaping from his scream-torn throat. His back is turned away from the wall because it is covered in welts and slashed badly from the buckle end of a belt. As he hears snoring,he creeps further into the small ball that consists of his body and shivers silently through the soft sobs.

_He's the kid with the story no-one would believe._

Raven hair,pale skin,thin frame,green eyes,heavy glasses,lightning bolt scar. Harry Potter has been beaten half to death, raped, verbally abused, had 'freak' carved into his skin with a sharp blade, been used as a punching bag, starved for weeks, almost died from dehydration, and worked like a house elf. And he's the savior of the wizarding world.

_He prays every night,_

When he is sure his uncle is in bed,he crawls out of bed and kneels on the floor,begging the God that he's heard about whenever the Dursleys are expected to take him to church and begs for one thing,the only thing he's ever asked for when he attempts to pray to this God.

"_Dear God,_

_Won't you please,_

_Send someone here who will love me."_

And in the Gryffindor dorms,he waits until his friends are asleep,then crawls out of bed to kneel by the side of it and looks nervously about to insure he is not observed. Then puts his head on his folded hands and whispers to the mysterious God who did as he asked once,he adds to his long-ago prayer.

_Who will love _me _for _me,

And now a newly graduated Harry kneels to pray in his new apartment, the eighteen year old prays louder now,to this God who did as he asked twice,but Voldemort took away from him. He has long since stopped grieving his Godfather,and again he repeats the prayer he once hoped to never pray again,but adds more to his forever-prayer.

_Not for what I have done_

Oh plenty of people loved him for killing the Dark Lord. They loved him for living,the loved him for fighting,they loved his bravery and his effort. His obedience to the former Headmaster of Hogwarts,Albus Dumbledore. They loved him for thing he had done. For fulfilling expectations.

_Or what I will become_

Now they praised and worshiped him for becoming a auror,when all he really wanted to do was tell the Minister to take the job to hell with him and scream to Ginny he had no wish to marry her and have kids. To tell the world he didn't want to fulfill the expectations of everyone. Of Ginny,of Ron,of Dumbledore,of his parents,of everyone.

_Who will love me for me_

Ginny loved him because he was 'The-Boy-Who-Lived' and 'The-Boy-Who-Defeated-You-Know-Who' because she wanted to marry a celebrity,not him,never him. She did not truly know him,she would never know him. She as centered around her own wants. Ron,he was his best mate,but he had no idea what Harry was really like. What he truly wanted.

_'Cause no-body has shown me_

Sirius would have,he tried,but there is little you can do on the run. Remus never cared to help him,the werewolf was trying to help him by staying away. It hurt more than Sirius dying. The world loved but never cared to see if their 'hero' needed help himself;even Dumbledore,he wasn't trying to,but he saw him as a means to kill the dark lord.

_What love,_

It would be years before Harry believed in the concept. He told Ginny flat out they weren't marrying,shattering his friendship with Ron. Hermione moved to Ireland and made a lawyer of herself. The world forgot their hero slowly.

_What 'love' really means._

Hermione traced her fingers over the word 'freak' and 'slut' carved into her boyfriend's chest,realising why he had refused to be intimate with her or ever swim without a shirt. She looked up to see his eyes closed sharply as he waited for her rebuke. She lifted her perfect hands to his face and pulled him down to look at her. " Harry Remus Black...will you marry me?"

_**~oOo~**_

_Her office is shrinking a little each day,_

The young woman sighed and buried her head in the papers on her desk. It was a small one,her chair barley fit in it,but she had sold the other one to make money for the rent on the small place she rented as workplace and home. Her office was one of the best,but with her former accountant stealing hundreds of thousands...she was running out of money.

_She's the woman who's husband has,run away._

Bushy brown hair,fair skin,beautiful slender curves,dark hazel eyes. Hermione Granger has been betrayed. Ron had left when she refused to bear children for the sake of her career and settle down,furious with her. Bill,Fred,and George had broken ties with the family when they turned their back on Harry,and she had managed to get enough money to live on from them.

_She'll go to the gym after working today,_

She puts the papers away neatly and gathers her bag. There is a Muggle gym not far from here. It takes her mind off work and Weasleys. It will help her understand and clear her mind,then she will go to sit and stare at the sky,and finish her letter to Headmaster Snape to ask for the History of Magic position. She misses England.

_Maybe if she was thinner,he would have stayed._

She will go and work out,try to lose weight. Ron could not be so shallow to leave just because she insisted kids could wait for a few years. He was her best friend...at least he used to be. Harry has written her back,saying he and Snape had become better friends after he saved the mans life from the snake venom and he'd put in a good word and find her a decent place to live.

_And she says,_

Now she's packed and staring in the mirror before she shrinks it and puts it with the rest,staring at the sleep deprived human being that looks tiredly back at her. She stares and reaches a hand to trace it,she hasn't applied the glamors yet,and needs to get her nails done in England,but she won't look bad when she's done. Without realizing it,she opens her mouth.

_Who will love me for me?_

Now she considers her words,she was a member of the Golden Trio. She was Harry Potter's best friend,she misses the raven-haired,emerald-eyed boy. He always put up with her,maybe she should have married him,her and Ron's constant arguing should have told her something. True love meant staying.

_Not for what I have done_

She was Hermione Granger. Brains of the Golden Trio, Ravenclaw who was too brave to be in Rowena's house. She had gotten them past countless traps,ambushes,puzzles,and situations. She was famous for being the best friend of 'The-Boy-Who-Lived'. Their were so many men who would marry her with the snap of a fingers.

_Or what I will become_

When she made the decision to become a lawyer,Ron disapproved. Others didn't. Draco Malfoy had congratulated her,Harry had been ecstatic, only Ron was against it. She was determined to make something of herself,and no matter who offered to marry her,the rich,famous,and handsome,she chose Ron.

_Who will love me for me?_

Not for my body or for my brains. Not for my heart or by status. Not for my beliefs or for my ambition. Not for my friends or my family. Not for guilt and not for being without a choice. But for all and more. She was landing now,having taken a muggle plane instead of going the wizarding way,mostly because she wanted a chance to relax before having to put on the facade once more.

_'Cause no-body has shown me,_

She cared for Ron. She was friends with Ginny. She liked Harry. She had grown distant from her parents and muggle friends,just like Draco warned she would. She missed friends and comfort and...love. What was love again?

_What love_

And over the next six months,siting in front of a fire with hot cocoa, curled under a blanket with Harry,swimming in the lake, talking,laughing,singing,dancing...she fell in love. And although he was extremely shy about any kind of bodily contact save holding hands,she eventually found herself in a bed with him,and when she got her breath back and traced the scars with her fingertips,she knew that he though she was going to reject him.

_What 'love' really means_

Their wedding was beautiful,and despite Ron's refusal to come,Molly and Arthur were their. And the twins and Bill. They were happy to see them,and they said 'I do' in the same place they had eaten their first meal at Hogwarts. Their honeymoon in Italy would be perfect.

_**~oOo~**_

_He's waiting to die as he sits all alone,_

The man's head rested in his hands,his expression was not a happy one. He knows full well that Albus Dumbledore is dead,he knows because their bond shattered the night he died,when he stopped grieving,he sat and thought. And now,now all he can see is the redhead grinning at the boy opposite him who had just caught flowers in his hair while walking in a orchard many,many years ago.

_He's a man in a cell,who regrets what he's done._

Blond hair,stormy gray eyes,face set with a scowl and shoulders squared,Gellert Grindelwald cannot stop thinking of the happier memories of the Hogwarts Headmaster,his current companion is a phoenix that refuses to leave the cold concrete perch it has made beside him,and the great creature is crying enormous tears,that any potions master would happily kill to have. He cannot stop thinking of what he and Albus would have done if he had not been a fool.

_He utters a cry from the depths of his soul,_

The man turns to look at the door that will soon fly open,for his guards cannot hold out much longer,it is impossible against the numbers he saw from the cells barred,warded window. He turns his gaze to the ceiling,and reflects on something his friend once said. _'You know,Gellert, Muggles may have gotten some things right.'_

"_Oh Lord,forgive me! I want to go home."_

He does not realise he has said the words aloud until Fawks looks up at him. He blinks in confusion at the words uttered,they sound like Albus' foolishness,but maybe that's the point. His old,only friend is gone,and he must hold onto the memory,it is now the only thing that can stop him from going completely crazy.

_Then he heard a voice,somewhere deep inside_

He looked up at the next sound,over the phoenix's soft trill,the sound of a soft voice,he looked around for the source,his guards were gone,the room was empty. What was he to do? Sit here and wait to die? The voice answered his unspoken question and he sighed,this would have been interesting if he was not about to die.

_And it said,_

The voice spoke again,not loudly or sharply,not with a scream or shout,but softly like the wind in the trees. The words made him look up in disbelief,he couldn't understand as it spoke first,wondering wildly if it was explanation of condemnation.

"_I know you've murdered and I know you've lied,_

The funny thing was,he was not as worried about the murder as the lies. The lies he told to Albus Dumbledore,the lies it took the man years to forgive Gellert for and Gellert longer to forgive himself. The other man still came once a week and spoke to him,even if he had little time. He had nearly cried when he saw what their Hallow's had done to the other man.

_And I have watched you suffer all of your life_

All of his life,from his birth,to his being expelled from Durmstrung,to his aunts house,everything in his life. Now he found he wished for death,his beloved Albus had told him how he protected their Hallows and Gellert had helped him perfect the plan,now he knew the madman would not gain all of them.

_And now that you'll listen,I'll tell you that I,"_

The voice sounded firmly steady and controlled still,and it continued without hesitance as the door was thrown open and the white,snakelike man entered,their Hallow in his hand. He stopped to look at the man in the cell as two other men stepped to the side of the closed door.

_I will love you,for you._

"The old fool visited you,didn't he Grindelwald?"the man asked almost conversationally,unaware that he had insulted the other man already. "Maybe he mentioned part of his plan to you? I'm sure you understand my worry,the old fool shouldn't be a threat,but he was still the most manipulative person I've ever met,anything to add?" the man who called himself a Dark Lord asked.

_Not for what you have done _

"Yah. You can kill me now,because you will never have our Hallows."his accent was thick and his voice hoarse from little use. This man had killed far more Muggles that Tom Riddle ever had,he knew the other man would kill him,and he refused to give away the Headmaster's plan.

_Or what you will become._

"Fool!"the snake-man spat. "You have signed your death warrant." he never noticed the phoenix that Gellert shooed from the place beside him,the creature vanished before he stood,and he hoped it could help whoever still fought Albus' war.

_I will love you,for you_

"Poor little Tom Riddle. More a pitiful Half-blood orphan than a Dark Lord." the Dark Lord Gellert Grindelwald asked,standing bravely and glaring at the man in front of him with the stare that made the most powerful of wizards – save one – cower in fear. The man in front of him hesitated,but then lifted Gellert's wand and aimed it at his chest.

_I will give you the love,the love that you never knew_

He didn't hear the words spat,only the words of a welcoming Albus Dumbledore as he was returned to his youth,standing on the road to his aunts house,both smiling widely and before Gellert could say a word in apology,Albus had grabbed bis wrist and dragged him deeper into their childhood home,and as they walked,Gellert knew that he did not need to apologize,Albus already knew.

~oOo~

First time with the pairings,for my sister. Anyone like? Please review


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